When the unthinkable happens and a TV show loses a cast member, production teams face difficult decisions. Join us as we explore the various ways television series have navigated these tragic situations, from heartfelt tributes to character recasting. From "Sesame Street's" poignant handling of Mr. Hooper's passing to "Glee's" emotional farewell to Finn Hudson, these moments blur the line between fiction and reality.
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00:00big bird uh don't you remember we told you mr hooper died welcome to ms mojo and today we're
00:08breaking down some of the ways tv shows have historically navigated the death of a series
00:13regular no i want you know i love you i said i love you too he goes that's it and he gave me a
00:19hug and that was the last i saw him what happens when an actor dies finding the right cast is an
00:26essential part of any successful tv series it requires a lot of auditions time and scheduling
00:32commitments most importantly though it also requires the right chemistry between many
00:37different performers but what happens when an actor passes away during a show's run
00:45my my keys where are my keys that's a sad reality many ensembles have had to grapple with over the
00:52years however the way the situation has been dealt with differs from series to series these are some
00:58of the ways popular shows have approached this delicate issue which means what
01:09and they lived happily ever after off screen some shows choose to go on without an actor they've lost
01:16but don't have the heart to kill off or replace the character eventually found his way into a temple where
01:23i guess he stopped crying and he wrote
01:33carrie for the first time in my life i felt peace the long time mystery solving lawyer perry mason was
01:40said to be on vacation in later tv movies under the character's banner co-star barbara hale suggested
01:47this was what late actor raymond burr wanted in order to keep the show's crew employed he couldn't
01:53do enough for our family he couldn't do enough for anybody he was always concerned about the other the
02:01other human being the other person i'll miss him in 2022 leslie jordan's sudden death in a car accident
02:09saw his call me cat character phil written out the character was given a happy ever after and was said
02:16to have moved overseas with his husband however the cast broke character at the end of an episode to
02:21say goodbye to jordan himself he is irreplaceable we will miss him very much
02:27love light i see replaced by a similar character the chemistry of an ensemble can be tricky to
02:38maintain facing an actor's premature death some shows have opted to create a new character to fill
02:44a similar role as the previous one cheers for example was rocked by the death of coach actor
02:50nicholas colisanto now the day goes by when i don't miss him terribly me too you know what helps me though
02:58is uh i always remember what he used to say about the afterlife i hope they're not a lot of stairs
03:05it's wise in its way the next season woody harrelson joined the cast as woody boyd despite their
03:11different backgrounds and ages both fulfilled the function of the bar airhead well we never met
03:18we were kind of like pen pals you you exchange letters no pens
03:27it was it was coach's idea
03:32another example was freddy prince of chico and the man fame
03:37prince's presence was missed when the young actor died tragically and suddenly at the age of 22. the
03:43solution was the addition of a younger latino character named raul the show's ratings didn't
03:48recover from losing its original star cool it's a part of the revolution has been postponed i am your
03:54leader and i say we stop at nothing short of victory this meeting is called to order ed the meeting is
04:00over recast before the next season for one reason or another several shows have decided to recast a role
04:08after the original actor passed away i i was wondering if i could borrow some um a paprika of
04:15course andre brauer had already shot scenes for the netflix series the residents when he died in 2023
04:23breaking bad star joncarlo esposito assumed the role and reshot several of brauer's scenes it could be very
04:29uncompromising no no no we were always super cool he was like a father to me i had no issues with a
04:36b winner that's the truth the wire actor lance reddick passed away after completing season one of percy
04:42jackson and the olympians courtney b vance takes over the role of zeus in the second season both roles
04:49were able to recast in time as the residents had paused for the 2023 hollywood strikes and reddick
04:55passed between the first and second seasons of percy jackson family business
05:06make sure i never see this one again south park had to recast mary k bergman mid-season
05:13we must fight for our children's futures you started a war you have to stop it to make them safe again
05:19hello our children are precious hello we must make a stand now here is a cast member who was
05:26so integral to the show it took several performers to replace her for the first few years of south
05:31park the voices of almost all the female characters were provided by one very talented artist named mary
05:37k bergman i'm all the mothers including kenny's mother who basically is bill clinton only female
05:44mary k does the voices of course you know i'm also kyle's mother who is just insane co-creators trey
05:54parker and matt stone credit bergman with coming up with several details for the characters that they
06:00hadn't originally written after bergman's tragic and sudden death in the middle of the show's third
06:05season parker and stone were devastated her massive talent would be missed and impossible to replicate
06:11they opted to recast her roles divvying up voice duties among multiple different actresses over
06:25the years giving actors a swan song some shows get advanced notice of an actor's declining health
06:32and they decide to make the most of it actress katherine justin was given a fittingly heroic send-off
06:38on desperate housewives i think i can uh fit you in next monday look at me i'm wearing a wig
06:46and toting an oxygen tank do it look like i'm gonna make it to monday
06:52put me on the stand be glad you did soon after finishing her final scenes justin died of lung cancer
07:00just as her character did the sopranos featured a particularly uncanny version of an actor's final
07:05scene well what's wrong tell me what are you gonna freak out every time i try to do something nice for
07:10you actress nancy marchand died between the show's second and third seasons the show's storylines had
07:16to be rewritten but through the use of cgi a body double and previous footage livia soprano made one
07:23final appearance the scene sees james gandolfini playing against marchand's superimposed head spouting
07:31dialogue that's suspiciously similar to things she said in the previous two seasons what do you care
07:36out of sight out of mind death as a teaching moment since 1969 sesame street has been teaching children
07:44the essentials but in 1982 the death of actor will lee gave the show a chance to have a real
07:50heartbreaking and necessary conversation about the reality of loss and grieving yeah i remember well i'll
07:57i'll give it to him when he comes back big bird when when people die they don't come back ever lee
08:07played mr hooper the cranky and lovable storekeeper watching big bird realize that his friend isn't
08:13coming back is enough to pull at the heartstrings even now he won't be the same
08:18you're right big bird it's it's it'll never be the same around here without him
08:28but you know something we can all be very happy that we had a chance to be with him
08:36it's no great care went into the entire episode the writers consulted with experts in child psychology
08:43and development to craft a delicate age-appropriate but deeply powerful message about loss and grief
08:49for them it's not about the sadness they don't quite understand the loss in the sort of cosmic
08:56sense of loss it's more personal tribute episodes the first episode produced after an ensemble member
09:02passes away can often be a somber and deeply emotional one some episodes act as if they are
09:08funerals in themselves giving us a chance to grieve right along with the characters and the actors who
09:13play them i was just thinking about leo sitting over there in that chair weird isn't it people are
09:23here one minute and then they're not often in these tribute episodes it's hard to draw the line between
09:29actors and their characters glees 2013 episode the quarterback is one long tribute to both finn hudson
09:36and his actor corey monteith who died at 31. i talk to him a lot
09:44i can still see his face and i can hear his voice so clearly
09:50do you think that i'll ever forget it
09:54because i'm afraid that one day i will the entire fourth season premiere of riverdale was dedicated to
09:59honoring both the fictional fred andrews and the actor who played him luke perry in both cases there's
10:05a genuine heartbreaking reality to the grief on screen it hurts me that i never got to say goodbye
10:14that i won't get to see him again or talk to him
10:23but his spirit and his memory lives on in this town and everyone he's met the whole show changes
10:29a lot of shows can continue on without one of their stars but some are irrevocably transformed
10:35rory will you please not keep your shoes on the stairs those are dads
10:42okay it was hard not to notice john ritter's absence from eight simple rules its title and
10:47point of view were based completely on the columns written by his character paul hennessy what started
10:53out as a show about a dad's perspective on raising teenagers soon turned into one about a single
10:59mother and her children grieving their deceased patriarch oh my god dad thank you
11:08that's all he wrote that was enough yeah news radio made a similar pivot after the shocking
11:16headline grabbing deaths of phil hartman and his wife their pain was fresh and palpable in
11:21the first episode back which has been referred to as a televised funeral suddenly something dark now
11:27hung over the workplace comedy and it never quite recovered between you and me bill did not sneak
11:33away to some foreign country to start his own business you know i'm starting to suspect that myself
11:41but don't tell the others that he is actually dead okay because i don't think they're ready to face the
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12:04an actor's death losing a character you love is always tough when that loss is magnified by the real
12:10life sadness of the actor behind them dying as well it can be hard to imagine how a series can recover
12:16but you do wake up
12:19and for just a second you forget
12:25and then oh you remember
12:30and it's like getting that call again and again every time that loss suddenly becomes very real
12:37storylines can remain unfinished the cast dynamics can be altered and no matter what something will
12:43always be missing i just want you to know that we all love you we all miss you and i bet you're
12:50having a big laugh over all of us being sad and sorrowful and i know that would be the last thing
12:56you would want us to be ultimately the way writers and actors deal with an actor's death doesn't just
13:01say a lot about the show itself it can also have a profound effect on whether or not a series can last
13:07without them but in a strange and touching way it can also help viewers come to terms right alongside
13:13an actor's colleagues she may be gone but her voice will live on in dvd and hulu plus and tiny droid
13:21projected messages i may have lost a boss but heaven has gained a princess which of these late actors have
13:30the most profound effect on you let us know in the comments oh my god mom read it yeah okay i'm going to
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